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Police: Man Stole Bronze Plaque Off Samuel Colt Monument

The former Colt Firearms Manufacturing Company's iconic blue dome. Part of the complex has been renovated for different uses. Photo by WTIC's Matt Dwyer.

The former Colt Firearms Manufacturing Company's iconic blue dome. Part of the complex has been renovated for different uses. Photo by WTIC's Matt Dwyer.

HARTFORD, Conn. (CBS Connecticut and AP) – Police say a 62-year-old man stole a bronze plaque off a monument honoring one of Hartford’s most well-known natives and sold it to a local scrap yard for just under $50.

Rafael Sanchez was arraigned Monday on charges of second-degree larceny and first-degree criminal mischief in connection with the theft from the Samuel Colt monument at Coltsville National Historical Park.

A park ranger notified police on Sept. 11 that the 1906 landmark was damaged and the 42-pound inlaid bronze plaque of the Colt coat-of-arms was missing.

Sanchez was arrested Friday after the director of the Sam and Elizabeth Colt Industrial and Frontier Heritage Center found the plaque at a scrap yard on Huyshope Avenue.

The public defender representing Sanchez told the judge that his client was a heroin addict.